Establishing schools as professional learning communities: perspectives from Malta

Over the last decade, Malta has been moving away from a highly centralized and bureaucratic system to one that encourages broader involvement in policy‐making and more collaboration among stakeholders. As a result, educators and schools have greater responsibilities to determine the way forward and to develop schools as learning communities. Whilst the road towards increased collaboration amongst teachers and between the schools in which they work can be a long, arduous and tortuous journey, it can also be a vehicle for positive change and development. This paper explores a theoretical rationale for a teacher‐led approach to school improvement. It then explores the initial collaboration between the author and one local school. It presents the main findings of a strategic analysis undertaken to understand the current situation facing the school. This case study helps to highlight the importance and positive effects behind capacity building and shared leadership.

Durant les 10 dernières années, Malte s'est éloignée d'un système fortement centralisé et très bureaucratique pour tendre vers un système qui encourage un plus grand engagement dans les prises de décisions et plus de collaboration chez les participants. En conséquence, les éducateurs et les écoles ont des responsabilités plus importantes pour déterminer l'avenir à long terme et pour développer les écoles afin qu'elles deviennent des communautés d'apprentissage. Bien que le chemin menant à une collaboration croissante entre les enseignants et les écoles avec lesquelles ils travaillent puisse être long, ardu et tortueux, il est également un véhicule de changement et de développement positif. Cet article explore en premier lieu les raisons théoriques d'une approche où l'amélioration des écoles serait confiée aux enseignants; il étudie ensuite la collaboration initiale entre l'auteur et une école locale. Cet article présente enfin les principaux résultats d'une analyse stratégique entreprise pour comprendre la situation actuelle de l'école. Cette étude de cas aide à mettre en évidence l'importance et les effets positifs de la formation des aptitudes et du partage des responsabilités.

Durante la pasada década, Malta ha pasado de un sistema altamente centralizado y burocrático a otro que fomenta una mayor implicación y una mayor colaboración en materia de política educativa. Como resultado, educadores y escuelas tienen ahora una mayor responsabilidad a la hora de decidir las líneas a seguir por las escuelas y de contribuir al desarrollo de éstas como comunidades de aprendizaje. Si bien es verdad que las nuevas directrices fomentan la colaboración entre profesores y centros y esto supondrá un proceso largo y laborioso, también es cierto que conllevará cambios en positivo y un mayor desarrollo. Este estudio investiga las posibles líneas en que los profesores puedan llevar a cabo una mejora en los centros. Por ello parte de la colaboración inicial entre el autor del estudio y una escuela local. Presenta los resultados más relevantes de un análisis estratégico llevado a cabo para entender la actual situación con que se enfrenta la escuela. Este estudio de casos nos ayuda a valorar la importancia y los efectos positivos que se hallan tras el fomento de capacidades y el liderazgo compartido.

Da in den letzten Jahren die Anforderungen an Schulreformen in Malta gewachsen sind, wird, wie wir feststellen konnten, Qualitätsfragen mehr und mehr Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Dementsprechend fördern die Schulämter – dank hauptsächlich zweier politischen Initiativen [der Einführung eines Nationalen Kernlehrplans (NMC, National Minimal Curriculum) und der Schulentwicklungsplanung] – eine Dezentralisierung der Verantwortungsstrukturen, die vor allem die Eigenverantwortung der Lehrer in pädagogischen Entscheidungen stärkt. Der Weg hin zu einer intensiveren Zusammenarbeit unter den Lehrern und zwischen den Schulen, in denen sie arbeiten, war lang, mühsam und umständlich. Gleichwohl kann die Zusammenarbeit ein Vehikel für positive Veränderungen und Entwicklung darstellen. Dieser Artikel untersucht theoretische Grundlagen für einen lehrerzentrierten Ansatz der Schulreform. Anschließend wird die anfängliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Autoren dargestellt. Schließlich werden die Hauptergebnisse einer strategischen Analyse vorgestellt, die auf ein besseres Verständnis der aktuellen Situation abzielt, in der sich das Schulwesen befindet. Die vorliegende Fallstudie trägt dazu bei, die Wichtigkeit und die positiven Wirkungen herauszustellen, die von der Stärkung der Eigenverantwortung und von kooperativen Führungsstrukturen ausgehen, und welcher Maßnahmen es hierzu bedarf.     

Ageing,learning and health: making connections

Abstract

The health of ageing populations is a real concern across the world so that the concept of active ageing has been advocated as a framework for appropriate educational policies and programmes to support people as they grow older. The other elements discussed here are health and healthy life expectancy (HLE) acknowledging that as people age, they may suffer from a range of chronic illnesses. How strong is the evidence that improving access to, and involvement in later life learning is an effective strategy for improving health and can it help with health problems? Reviewing some of the available evidence, we found that studies are frequently not comparable, that they frequently confuse concepts of health and well-being and do not always demonstrate causal effects. We also question whether later life learning can be successful in reducing lifelong socio-economic inequalities although some targeted interventions are beginning to appear in different countries. We conclude that it is important to rethink attitudes to active ageing if current gains in healthy LE are to continue.     

Induction seminars as professional learning communities for beginning teachers

This paper explores the operation and contribution of induction seminars operated as learning communities for new teachers. Mixed methods were used: 378 new teachers and 29 seminar leaders completed questionnaires, 16 new teachers and 14 seminar leaders were interviewed, and 20 seminar meetings were observed. Findings showed that seminar discussions focused primarily on coping with discipline problems, building self-confidence, and developing a professional identity. The main contribution of the seminars was emotional support provided in a non-threatening environment. Findings imply that seminars can be a significant supplement to in-school mentoring for the professional development and adjustment of new teachers.     

Placement schools as professional learning communities in teacher education

This article investigates how schoolteachers’, school leaders’ and college teachers’ involvement affects placement schools as professional learning communities. Norwegian teacher education is used as a case. The first part builds on a survey among schoolteachers and mentors at 111 placement schools in Norway. It documents great variety in the level of engagement. Interviews with mentors, school leaders and college teachers reveal how cooperation between colleges and placement schools, as well as the school leaders’ commitment, influences the quality of placement. The school leaders’ role proves to be important in developing the schools as professional learning communities, and they seem to have a significant impact on the work of the mentors. The data also show that there is a need for a more substantial cooperation between college teachers and mentors about the student teachers’ professional development as well as a need for a more systematic integration of learning in the two learning contexts.     

Informal online communities and networks as a source of teacher professional development: A review

Informal online communities and networks offer teachers the possibility of voluntarily engaging in shared learning, reflecting about teaching practice and receiving emotional support. Bottom-up online communities and networks are an important source of professional development, although research around these social learning structures mainly consists in describing particular cases using a wide diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches. This review analyses the existing theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches, the main characteristics and practices of online communities and networks, as well as their principal repercussions in teacher professional development. A critical analysis of the emergent themes in the revised articles sheds light on eligible perspectives for further research.     

Sustaining professional learning communities: Case studies

The purpose is to document the ongoing development of two schools in becoming professional learning communities and the effects of meaningful collaboration on teacher learning. The question that guides this research is: How does a school become a sustainable professional learning community? The theoretical framework is based on the work of Senge, Hord, Fullan, Hargreaves and Fink, and Stoll, McMahon and Thomas and includes the areas of professional learning community, change and sustainability. Finally, the study addresses the relationship between professional learning community and school culture. The methodology involves a qualitative case study approach designed to gain information regarding two emerging schools in their journeys toward developing learning community cultures. Findings reveal the stories of each school as they evolved as PLCs and the similarities and differences that emerged. Knowing that sustaining the culture of a PLC is complex, and not to be achieved without determination and growth, we look ahead at challenges to be addressed and further research to be conducted. Finally, we offer some concluding statements and attempt to relate findings to the literature on PLCs. The intent is to identify some of the intricacies in building cultures of learning for adults and students. As we have learned through these two stories, many things happen simultaneously, to greater or lesser degrees, at varying points in time over a period of years that seem to influence the development of a PLC. Such development seems so complex that to be able to describe discrete steps or stages is unlikely. Still we are beginning to see that some categories of activities and issues must be developed before others can emerge.     

The principals as literacy leaders with indigenous communities: professional learning and research

Recent educational changes in China such as the decentralization policy and the marketization of education have introduced concepts such as performativity, competition and effectiveness to the education sector and they have become part of the educational lexicon. Such policy shifts force more local participation in teacher education programmes and schools are now identified as the prime site for offering relevant professional learning activities to teachers. However, interestingly, research on professional development of teachers in China has not devoted significant attention to the voices of teachers. This paper examines how teachers from seven schools in Guangdong Province view the effectiveness of these school‐based learning activities within the new context of educational change.     

Teachers and students together in a professional learning community

Students represent the majority of the people in a school organisation, but are rarely considered as participants in literature on professional learning communities (PLC). This article explored a PLC with the legitimate participation of students in the classroom. Data was based on interviews with 11 teachers. Community of practice theory provides 3 dimensions that were used as analytical tools: shared repertoire, mutual engagement, and joint enterprise. Shared repertoire refers to how teachers introduce and develop tools for learning; mutual engagement to how to establish relationships and atmosphere with a respect for learning; and joint enterprise to how students’ associations and experiences are used to shape content knowledge in planning for learning. We conclude that the theory of community of practice is useful to describe and understand the formation of a PLC.     

Forging professional learning communities: the role of external agency

This article explored the effects of external agency on the establishment of professional learning communities (PLCs). The research was undertaken in the context of schools that have chosen to adopt the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB) worldwide. The study employed a two-stage qualitative sequential design including data collected from focus groups of administrators, teachers and parents in 122 PYP schools worldwide and case studies of six of these schools provided in-depth understanding of the factors emerging from the focus group data. Findings suggest that external agency can facilitate the development of PLCs that schools, operating in isolation and having to initiate the process without an external framework and oversight, would find difficult to implement regardless of their motivation to do so. The study suggests that in the case of the IBPYP this is done by ensuring schools adopting the programme have a clear vision, mission and ethos linked directly to student outcomes that is transparent, and can be communicated by all members of the school community. The study extends the ongoing research on the development of PLCs and the type of external support most useful in the initial stages of PLC development.     

Teachers as readers: building communities of readers

Given the narrow scope of primary teachers' knowledge and use of children's literature identified in Phase I of Teachers as Readers (2006–2007), the core goal of the Phase II project was to improve teachers' knowledge and experience of such literature in order to help them increase children's motivation and enthusiasm for reading, especially those less successful in literacy. The year‐long Phase II project, Teachers as Readers: Building Communities of Readers, which was undertaken in five Local Authorities (LAs) in England, also sought to build new relationships with parents and families and to explore the concept of a “Reading Teacher (RT): a teacher who reads and a reader who teaches” (Commeyras and colleagues). The research design was multilayered; involving data collection at individual, school and LA levels, and using a range of quantitative and qualitative data research methods and tools. This paper provides an overview of the Phase II research. It suggests that teachers need support if they are to develop children's reading for pleasure, and enhance their involvement as socially engaged and self‐motivated readers.     

Teachers as writers: learning together

This paper reports upon the insights gained through working with teachers as writers at their own level. As part of a two‐year research project into the development of children's voice and verve in writing, a group of fourteen teachers' reflective journeys as writers were documented. Two other groups of teachers and one group of student teachers also took part in writers' workshops across the same period. The data encompassed: questionnaires, observations and teacher commentaries on their own writing, as well as interviews. A number of issues emerged, including: the tension between public and private writing and the security of the writing environment; authenticity in modelling writing; the importance of re‐reading writing at the point of composition; the significance of choice and autonomy in writing and the potency of drama as an ideational and reflective tool. The consequences for classroom practice are also considered. It is argued that in order to enhance the teaching of writing, teachers and student teachers need real opportunities to write at their own level and reflect upon the process.     

Subject departments as professional communities?

A growing body of literature suggests that when schools become professional communities there are expected benefits in terms of teacher learning, school improvement and student achievement. In this article the concept of professional communities is examined for certain subject departments in Dutch secondary schools. The authors report on research into the extent to which mathematics departments operate as professional communities. At the same time, it was investigated whether the level at which departments operate as professional communities is related to student achievement. The results indicate that departments are cohesive bodies regulating teacher behaviour in several respects. However, as professional communities they do not focus on improving the quality of their teachers and instruction. Some characteristics of professional communities prove to be beneficial for student achievement, while others are not. The authors offer recommendations on how departments can develop into more professionally organised communities.     

Public reflection within learning communities: an incessant type of professional development

This article is based on a study focusing on how structured learning communities can promote reflective awareness and professional development, through collaborative analysis of professional experience. As participant–observer, the researcher used recorded observations as well as individual participants’ reflective writing as data. Of importance is the fact that all seven participants argued that they developed professionally and started to dig deeper into their experiences as the five-month study progressed. They also pointed out that this type of professional development was immediately relevant to their present needs, and this was what motivated them to further engage in reflection as a tool for professional development. Aspects such as conflict and uncertainty in teacher learning, and how collaboration promotes further reflection will also be discussed.